ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · WALTHAM, MA · MARCH 2023
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/massachusetts/waltham/march-2023-report
Monthly Traffic Safety Analysis
125 CRASHES IN
WALTHAM, MA
MARCH 2023
In March 2023, Waltham experienced 125 crashes, a 5.04% increase from the 119 crashes reported in March 2022. The most significant year-over-year change was a substantial rise in total injuries, increasing from 14 to 36. This period also saw a decrease in fatal crashes from 1 to 0.
125
▲ 5.0%was 119
Total Crash Events
0
▼ -100.0%was 1
Persons Killed
36
▲ 157.1%was 14
Persons Injured
19
▼ -26.9%was 26
Hit-and-Run Crashes
Note: "Persons Killed" (0) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (0) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 9 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Overall, crashes in Waltham saw a slight increase, with total crashes rising from 119 in March 2022 to 125 in March 2023, representing a 5.04% increase. This period also saw a notable increase in total injuries, which more than doubled from 14 to 36.
19
Hit-and-Run Crashes — March 2023
▼ -26.9% vs prior (26)
Hit-and-run crashes decreased from 26 incidents in March 2022 to 19 incidents in March 2023. This change resulted in the hit-and-run rate dropping from 21.8% of all crashes in the prior period to 15.2% in the current period.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
0
Cyclists Killed
0
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
5
Pedestrians Injured
1
Cyclists Injured
29
Motorists Injured
1
Other Injured
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The peak day for crashes shifted from Tuesday in March 2022, with 29 incidents, to Thursday in March 2023, with 25 incidents. While the peak crash count remained at 11, the peak hour moved from 7 PM in the prior period to 6 PM in the current period.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
Fatal crashes decreased from 1 in March 2022 to 0 in March 2023, resulting in a 0% fatal crash rate for the current period compared to 0.84% previously. Concurrently, serious injuries more than doubled from 7 to 15, and possible injuries also doubled from 6 to 12.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
Inattention dropped from the most frequent factor (29 crashes) in March 2022 to the third most frequent (15 crashes) in March 2023, a decrease of 14 crashes. 'No improper driving' became the most frequent factor, decreasing slightly from 24 to 21 crashes. Meanwhile, 'Failed to yield right of way' crashes increased from 14 to 16, and 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' crashes rose from 5 to 9.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
Crashes occurring in clear weather conditions decreased from 78 to 73, while those in cloudy conditions increased from 18 to 24. Notably, crashes during snowy weather rose significantly from 1 in March 2022 to 8 in March 2023. Correspondingly, crashes on dry road surfaces increased from 88 to 99, while those on wet surfaces decreased from 30 to 19.
Weather
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The total number of persons involved in crashes increased from 287 to 343. There was a notable shift in age distribution, with persons aged 35-44 increasing from 32 to 52, and those aged 55-64 increasing from 16 to 28. Among vehicle makes, Toyota remained the most frequently involved, with its count rising from 33 to 52, while Ford involvement increased from 17 to 30.
Top Vehicle Makes (240 vehicles)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · Vehicle unit records
99 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (254 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Speed Limit Zones
The fatal crash in the prior period occurred in a 30 mph zone, which saw 83 crashes. In the current period, there were no fatal crashes, despite an increase to 99 crashes in 30 mph zones. Crashes in 55 mph zones increased from 5 to 9, while 10 mph zones saw a slight decrease from 8 to 7 crashes.
Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31 · Posted speed limit at crash location
Data Sources & Methodology
Primary Data Source
All crash data in this report is sourced from Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), accessed programmatically via the Arcgis_yearly Open Data API (SODA). This dataset contains official police-reported motor vehicle traffic crash records maintained by the reporting jurisdiction's law enforcement agency. Records are published to the open data portal by the municipality and are subject to the portal's terms of use.
Data Retrieval
- Access method: Arcgis_yearly Open Data API (SoQL queries)
- Data format: Structured JSON via REST API
- Record types queried: Crash events, person records, and vehicle unit records
- Date filter applied: 2023-03-01 through 2023-03-31
- Report generated: June 21, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2023-03-01 through 2023-03-31 (31 days)
- Geographic scope: WALTHAM, MA
- Total crash records analyzed: 125
- Total persons involved: 343
- Total vehicles involved: 240
Analytical Methodology
- Severity classification: Uses the KABCO injury scale (K=Fatal, A=Incapacitating injury, B=Non-incapacitating injury, C=Possible injury, O=No injury/property damage only), the standard classification in U.S. Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC). Severity is assigned per crash event based on the most severe injury in that crash. A single fatal crash (K) may involve multiple fatalities; therefore the "Persons Killed" count in the headline KPIs may differ from the "Fatal" crash count in the severity breakdown.
- Contributing factors: Reflect the officer-determined primary contributory cause recorded at the time of the crash report. These are preliminary determinations and may not reflect final investigation findings.
- Hit-and-run classification: Based on the hit-and-run indicator field in the official crash report, as determined by the responding officer at the scene.
- Temporal analysis: Day-of-week and hour-of-day distributions are computed from the crash date/time timestamp in each record.
- Demographics: Age and sex distributions are drawn from person-level records linked to each crash event. A single crash may involve multiple persons.
- Vehicle data: Make information is drawn from vehicle unit records linked to each crash event.
- AI commentary: Narrative sections are generated by Google Gemini (large language model) based on the structured data. Commentary is descriptive, not predictive, and should not be interpreted as expert opinion.
Limitations & Disclaimers
- Only crashes reported to and documented by law enforcement are included. Minor incidents, unreported crashes, and near-misses are not captured in this dataset.
- Data reflects conditions at the time of the initial police report and may be subject to subsequent corrections, reclassifications, or supplements by the reporting agency.
- Open data portal records may experience a publication lag - recently occurring crashes may not yet appear in the dataset at the time of report generation.
- AI-generated commentary is produced by a large language model and is intended to highlight patterns in the data. It does not constitute legal, medical, or professional analysis.
- Percentages are calculated from reported data and are subject to rounding.
Non-Affiliation Disclosure
This report is produced independently by ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in partnership with any law enforcement agency, municipal government, state department of transportation, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data is sourced from publicly available government open data portals.
Data License
The underlying crash data is provided under the municipality's Open Data Terms of Use and is made available to the public for unrestricted use. This analysis and report is © 2026 Injuria.ai and may be cited with attribution using the suggested citation below.
Corrections & Feedback
If you believe any data in this report is inaccurate or have questions about our methodology, please contact: data@injuria.ai. We are committed to accuracy and will issue corrections promptly.
Suggested Citation
ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). "WALTHAM, MA Crash Intelligence Report: March 2023." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2023-03-01 to 2023-03-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/waltham/march-2023-report
About the Publisher
ThatCarHitMe.com is a crash data intelligence platform developed by Injuria.ai, a legal technology company specializing in traffic safety analytics. We aggregate and analyze publicly available government crash data to produce structured intelligence reports for communities, researchers, journalists, and legal professionals. Our reports combine programmatic data retrieval from official open data portals with AI-assisted narrative analysis.
Questions about this report's data or methodology: data@injuria.ai
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly
Period: 2023-03-01 – 2023-03-31
Generated: June 21, 2026 · All rights reserved